Emmitsburg, Md. (January 4, 2020)--Damian Chong Qui and Malik Jefferson combined for 49 points to lead Mount St. Mary's past Long Island, 82-73, in double overtime on Saturday afternoon at Knott Arena.  The duo scored 14 of the Mount's 17 points in the overtime periods.

Mount St. Mary's (5-10, 1-1 NEC) held a 10-point lead midway through the second half, but was Long Island chip away at the deficit.  The Sharks tied the score at 57-57 with 4:18 remaining in regulation on a pair of Jermaine Jackson, Jr., free throws.  The Mount responded with a pair of Jefferson free throws and a Jalen Gibbs three-pointer to take a 62-57 advantage.  The Sharks responded with the next six points, including a Jackson, Jr., lay-up off a Ty Flowers steal with 1:15 left.  The Mount responded when Jefferson converted a putback of his own missed shot for a 64-63 lead with 59 seconds on the clock.  Jackson, Jr., responded with a bucket to give Long Island the lead again, but Chong Qui hit 1-of-2 at the line with 40 seconds left to even the score.  Nana Opoku then came up with the big defensive play, a block on a Jackson, Jr., layup with 17 seconds left to give the Mount the ball back.  Chong Qui had a chance to end the game in regulation, but his long three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.

In the first overtime session, Jefferson scored in the paint on the first possession to give the Mount the lead.  Another Jefferson bucket with 2:12 left in the first overtime gave the Mount a 71-69 advantage, but LIU's Raiquan Clark hit a pair of free throws with four seconds left to force the second overtime period.

The Mount dominated the second overtime, outscoring the Sharks (5-9, 0-1 NEC) 11-2 in the period to secure the win.  Opoku scored off a feed from Vado Morse to opened the scoring, Gibbs added a free throw, and Jefferson scored on a putback to make it 76-71.  Chong Qui then hit back-to-back buckets to stretch the lead to 80-71 with 1:17 on the clock to seal the victory.

Chong Qui finished with a career-high 26 points while adding five rebounds and four assists in the game.  The sophomore guard was 9-of-14 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range in the win.  Jefferson added a career-high 23 points while collecting nine rebounds for the Mount.  Opoku finished with nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds, Gibbs had nine points and nine boards and Morse nine points for the Mount.  Clark led LIU with 25 points and nine rebounds while Jackson, Jr., and Flowers had 14 points each in the loss.  Flowers added a game-high 11 rebounds for LIU.

The Mount shot 45.3 percent in the game, including 9-of-23 (.391) from three-point range.  Mount St. Mary's was 7-for-11 (.636) from the floor in the overtime periods.  LIU was held to 34.2 percent shooting overall and 4-of-29 (.138) from beyond the three-point arc.

The Mount is back in action on Thursday, January 9, with a 7:00 p.m. game at Merrimack.